In the United States, the strongest law to prevent species extinctions is the Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973 during the Nixon administration (Eberhard et al., 2022).

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The objective of the Endangered Species Act is as follows:

The Endangered Species Act establishes protections for fish, wildlife, and plants that are listed as threatened or endangered; provides for adding species to and removing them from the list of threatened and endangered species, and for preparing and implementing plans for their recovery; provides for interagency cooperation to avoid take of listed species and for issuing permits for otherwise prohibited activities; provides for cooperation with States, including authorization of financial assistance. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1973)

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Before the passing of the ESA, various species of fish, wildlife, and plants in the U.S. had been rendered extinct as a consequence of economic growth and development. Other species of fish, wildlife, and plants were depleted in numbers, so much so that they were threatened with extinction. The United States government recognized that these fish, plants, and wildlife are of great esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people. (Endangered Species Act, 1973). Thus, the Endangered Species Act was formed.

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The purposes or goals of the Endangered Species Act are to provide a means for the ecosystems on which endangered or threatened species depend can be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of endangered and threatened species, and to take the appropriate steps to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions that the U.S. has pledged itself to (Endangered Species Act, 1973).